Artists use motifs to show important images in a song or in a novel to make the reader think, and in the Song “God bless Amerika”, Lil Wayne uses a motif of the police in the music video. He uses this motif a couple of times in the song and the motif has a powerful message that can be interpreted many ways but the writer is showing how the police have caused him and his race so many problems and how God needs to change the problem because the people of the united states are not doing enough to solve the problem. Some of the shots used in this video are close and over the shoulder shots. This is a great example of a motif that relates to topics that are present in our world today and that we can all relate too.   

The visual motif I chose to analyze is the police officers that are in the music video. I chose this motif because with all the events happening now with the police I wanted to learn more from and African American’s perspective. The world is going through a tough time and it is cool to be able to see the world from the perspective of a famous African American. The first time the police officers show up in the video is one minute in when he is talking about what is wrong with America and how all the black kids are helpless. The police officers have on full armor that would be used during a riot. I think he put the police officers in the music video to show that there needs to be changes because America is far from perfect and the police are not treating the African Americans with the respect they deserve. At the beginning of the song he says “kill them all and let them die”. I think he is talking about how the police officers kill a lot of black people and just leave them there to die and they do not help them. This could also be taken as how he feels the African American people should treat the police officers, or what he thinks the police officers deserve. This ties in to the title God bless Amerika because he is telling God that he needs to fix this problem because he is tired of the racial injustice.  

The next time the police officers come up in the video is about one minute and twenty seconds into the video when he is talking about how the police officers are coming after him and they are still in the riot armor. This time I think he is talking about how the police officers maybe messed up his life. Cause in the video he says that he “took the blame” which means he is taking the blame for everything that happened to his city. In the background of the video are a bunch of destroyed buildings that have been vandalized and a bunch of homeless African Americans. He adds the buildings to show what has happened to his friends and family who were not given the same chances as him. I think Lil Wayne is trying to portray the police officers as the bad guy and is saying that God needs to bless America with better police officers that are fair to everyone. 

Another time the police officers show up is about two minutes and twenty-nine seconds into the video. This time when the police officers show up Lil Wayne is saying “fuck the police and fuck Jail”. In this instance, Lil Wayne is referring to how some African Americans view the police because they blame the police officers for all their problems. This motif is related to the title of the song “God bless Amerika”. Notice how Lil Wayne changed the “C” in America into a “K”. This is a very creative way to show how he feels about America. His reason for that is he is showing how America is broken and how it has changed. He uses this to explain how he feels about America and how God is the only one who can fix it. I think he spelled it with a “K” instead of a “C” is because he thinks America is messed up so he misspelled it to show his point. I think he spelled it with a “K” instead of a “C” is because he thinks America is messed up so he misspelled it to show his point. This is important because it shows his perspective of America and how it is broken. The changing from “C” to a “K” is significant because changing the spelling of a word most of the time changes the meaning of the word, which is what Wayne is saying how America has changed.  Both times in the video when police officers appear it is shortly followed by an image of homeless African Americans and vandalized buildings and a destroyed city. I think Lil Wayne is trying to blame the police for all the problems that have been occurring within the African American community. He never shows the police officers in a good light and is always negative towards them. I think therefore the song is called God bless Amerika. He thinks God is the only one who can solve this problem and this is his plea for help. I also think he chose to spell Amerika wrong for a reason. One key image that made me think this is when he pulls the American flag down from the background and it is a group of homeless black people who looked very sad and helpless. He is trying to show that they need help and that God is the only one who can do that. Overall I think this was a very powerful song that displays how African Americans see the United States of America and how the only person who they think can solve this problem is God. 

Throughout the video, Lil Wayne uses motifs of the police to display his view as well as other African Americans views of the police and how they feel the police officers have ruined their lives and are out to get them. Recently there have been a lot of issues between the African American people and the police. For example, the shooting in Charlotte, North Carolina of Mr. Keith Scott, and all the riots around the country that have been taking place. This all started in Ferguson Missouri when a man named Michael Brown was shot by a white police officer. The big controversy behind it is whether the victim had a gun or not and if the police officer shot him in self-defense. This song is a perfect representation of the African American view of how America is right now and how they feel like police officers are targeting them. This is a problem that cannot be easily fixed and Lil Wayne noticed that which is why this song is so important to what America is going through now. Throughout the song images of homeless African Americans and the ghetto are shown which is where most of the shootings have happened. This was a very good music video and overall I really enjoyed listening to it and relating it to what this country is going through now and how we all need to come together and fix this problem before it gets too out of hand and something more tragic happens. Even though there may be some in justice between the police officers and the African American people, both parties are at fault and their needs to be a resolution so no one else gets hurt. 
